Biohazard
by Scarlet Natsume
Summary: What happened exactly over 10,000 years ago during the ancestor era? Kiryuu Rei always thought that her life was boring, with only her brother and the AI he attended as her amusement. But then something big happened, and she now found herself stuck amongst the aftermath.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer : **_**Vampire Knight isn't mine. I'm sure you've known it. But the original characters in this story are mine, of course.**_

**Note : **_**Based on Resident Evil.**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Cross Corporation<strong>__. Founded in 1982 by Crosszeria Seishiro, Fujiwara Yuuko, and Dr. Kuran Yue after the discovery of Nanotechnology. Nanotechnology proved itself to be a very promising investment. With Nanotechnology, they were able to create many new materials and devices with a vast range of applications, such as in medicine, electronics, biomaterial and energy production. And with it, they quickly gained a large amount support within the consumer market._

_But unknown by the public, Dr. Kuran Yue had discovered something else beside Nanotechnology. A virus, that known as V-virus. He created it in order to reverse the inevitable cellular breakdown in his youngest daughter. The V-virus stimulated pre and post mortem cellular growth, however, there was side-effect. Mutation. To counter that side-effect, Dr. Kuran developed an anti-virus which could keep the V-virus mutation kept in check._

_Dr. Kuran hide the virus for it's very dangerous, however decades later the virus discovered by Crosszeria Seishiro. Know that the V-virus could make a major medical breakthrough for the corporation and also possessed profitable gain for the company if sold to the military, he seized the research for the virus from Dr. Kuran, and made an underground facility, called the Alveo, in Cross Corporation to develop it._

_As time had passed, Cross Corporation found itself with more and more influence and began to become the leading outlet. At the beginning of the 21__st__ century, this company had become the largest commercial entity in the Japan. Nine out of every ten homes contain its products. Its political and financial influence is felt everywhere. In public, it is the world's leading supplier of: computer technology, medical products, and healthcare. But, unknown even to its own employees, its massive profits actually are generated by: military technology, genetic experimentation, and viral weaponry. _

_And it all began when there was an outbreak in a branch of the Cross Corporation._

**.**

**.**

**BIOHAZARD**

**by**** Scarlet Natsume**

**Vampire Knight **** Matsuri Hino**

**.**

**Prologue**

**.**

**.**

A person in Hazmat suit entered the proper security codes to get through the titanium-reinforced door to the temperature-regulated room that housed the V-virus. The figure walked over to one of the utility closets and removed a hypo-gun and a metal case, before reached to the far wall that included a window of MetaGlas, a stronger version of Plexiglas that Cross had patented the year before. Under the window sat a horizontal slot, which the figure opened by activating a control. It slid downward, allowing the case to be placed into the small chamber on the other side of the window and slot. Smoky condensation puffed out through the slot, as the temperature inside the chamber was quite low, and only the Hazmat suit kept the figure from feeling the overwhelming cold that issued forth.

The slot closed once the case was ensconced within. The activating of several other controls brought about two more actions: two telefactors unfurled from sides of the MetaGlas window and the bottom of the chamber slid open to reveal fourteen vials. The latter action was only possible when the slot below the window was shut.

Manipulating the telefactors, the figure systematically placed each of the vials into slots. Each vial contained corkscrew-shaped tubes, half were filled with a deep red liquid and the other half with a liquid in a kind of navy blue.

The V-virus and the anti-virus.

Behind the reflective faceplate, the figure smiled. This was a weapon of mass destruction beyond any world leader's wildest dreams – or rather nightmares.

Once all twelve vials were in place, the case shut automatically and sealed itself. Only someone with the key code could open it now. The slot opened once again, the figure grabbed the case and brought it out of the temperature-controlled room into the adjacent laboratory.

The figure removed the Hazmat suit. He put a pair of rubber gloves, and entered the keycode. The case obligingly opened, an action that served two functions: to verify that the keycode worked and to allow the figure access to one of the vials containing the red liquid.

Pulling out the vial with a protected hand, the figure sealed the case once again, before placed it in a duffel bag, zipped the bag up, and hoisted it onto one shoulder.

Before departing the lab, the figure tossed the vial toward the center of the room, then turned to exit the room and closed and locked the door.

The vial tumbled over through the air in a graceful arc until it collided with the wall across. Glass shattered. Interior tubing broke. Shards splayed out onto the cold metal floor, and red liquid pooling around it. A miasma emitted from the red liquid into the air, and it headed toward the air-conditioning vents.

The Alveo was an underground facility under Kaname City where the company conducted business relating to its government contracts, to maintaining its complex underground system required tremendous feats of engineering. It also required a beyond-top-of-the-line air-conditioning system that regulated the constant flow of oxygen and carbon dioxide in proper amounts to keep the four hundred people living and working there alive and comfortable – not to mention the assorted lab animals and guard dogs.

It was an efficient system, so it didn't take long at all for the V-virus to make its deadly way through the complex.

The figure smirked while made a way out of the Alveo via the secret underground train station that connected to a mansion.

The living hell was just began.

0******************0

Over the last three months, Kiryuu Rei had learned to well and truly despise the Alveo's computer system.

Since it first came into existence, Cross had always had state-of-art computer technology, always first with the newest innovations in both hardware and software.

Rei was already late for the briefing when she somehow managed to lost her keycard, and she did not aware of it until she needed it to open the electronic doors. She cursed in many languages she knew when she notice it. She checked her watch as she glanced at the electronic lock. Damn it, the only way she could get in was to insert the password manually.

However, there was a problem. The security of the Alveo was guarded by the latest and greatest system.

Yuuki.

This was a computer system that was in many ways the holy grail of Artificial Intelligence. It was adaptable, flexible, and even had a _personality_.

For some inexplicable reason, the personality Fujiwara Yuuko, the creator of this AI, gave to Yuuki was that of a twelve-year-old girl, so Rei did not have a heart to harm it when the doors were not open though she had been typing her password _countless_ times.

"_**It isn't working,**_" Yuuki said in her prissy little schoolgirl voice, making a vein popped on Rei's forehead.

"Oh, come on, you brat. I'm already late." Rei growled, giving the electronic lock a smack. "I'm sure the username and password I type were correct."

"_**Na, na, na~! Not my business~! It's your fault not using your card~!**_" Yuuki sang from the speaker.

"I'm lost it, brat. Your duty is let me through and block the damn card so anyone else couldn't use it."

Rei checked her watch as her fingers desperately typing a few numbers of password. The meeting was at 09.00 sharp, which meant she had about ten minutes to the conference room. Muttering darkly, she typed again and again as the screen also displayed "Error" again and over _again_.

"_**Your username and password invalid. Please check them again.**_" Yuuki said playfully.

Rei clicked her tongue, running her fingers through her silver hair. She silent for a moment, before sighing in resigned and pulled out her phone.

Well, it seemed she should seek her brother's expertise.

0******************0

Kiryuu Ichii's job description was to make sure that Yuuki's systems remained secure. In reality, this meant spending all his days dealing with a twelve year old girl that just entered puberty. And you know how the girls when entered puberty, they were bitches.

He was fortunate that his twin sister was too awesome to become like most girls when she was in puberty, as he lived with her since… forever.

Sighing, Ichii wondered why anyone would find this preferable to a simple error message. "Alright," he said, typing in a sequence commands. "Let's compile it again, Yuuki, see where the error crops up."

"_**We don't need to do that. The error is in the patch you wrote. Don't worry about it, I can rewrite it for you.**_"

"No, you can't either," he said. "Show me where the error is. _I'll fix it_."

Two years, and this damn machine still was treating him as if he was an idiot.

Well, like programmer, like program.

"_**Very well, if you insist, but it's wholly unnecessary. I can do this myself. The whole point of having an artificial intelligence is to give me the opportunity to be intelligent.**_"

Ichii often wondered how anyone before him as her programmer could put up with this prissy girl. Even as he found the error in her patch –which was a simple typographical error, one he would have caught five minutes ago if Yuuki had not insisted on getting huffy about it– he still could not break it.

The phone rang. Wanting to keep his hand free to type, he plugged the headset into the appropriate jack in the phone, hooked it around his ear, adjusting the mic so it was near his mouth, then hit the speaker button. The phone routed the sound, which would normally go out on the phone's speaker, to the headset.

"Kiryuu speaking," he said, never moving his eyes from the screen.

"Hey, Ichii, it's Rei."

Smiling at the familiar voice, Ichii said, "Hey, sis. How are you today?"

"Pissed," Rei said, dryly.

Ichii raised an eyebrow at this. "So, what's the problem now?" he asked.

"I can't get in and her attitude is like a bitch."

Ichii's mind went blank for a second, before sighing. "Sorry, sis. There's a problem with the protocols. I should have it fixed in a few minutes, assuming Her Royal Highness doesn't throw a fit."

"_**I heard that, you bastard.**_"

He was making a face at the monitor. "If only you're a real girl, I will wash your mouth with soap."

"_**Well, damn good I'm not, granny.**_"

"Gran-"

He heard his sister chuckle.

He growled and giving a middle finger to Yuuki. He was typing on his keyboard again, trying a few lines codes and password. "Okay, sis, try it now."

There was a pause, though Ichii could hear the clickity-clack of Rei's fingers moving quickly over the lock keyboard.

"Fuck, I still can't get in."

Ichii's frowned. "You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. She wrote 'access denied, kiryuu dumbasses' in big letters on top of the monitor."

Ichii glared at his monitor, or rather at Yuuki. He was sure if Yuuki was real and not just a program, she would whistle innocently.

"That's a pretty _good_ indicator, yeah. Hold on a sec." He entered a few more commands. All the computers in the Alveo were hardwired to the overall Yuuki network, and it was a simple matter for him to provide a more direct link between her and Rei. When he was finished, it was as if they were a single workstation that just happened to have two keyboards.

His monitor lit up with a window taking up the right-hand side of his flatscreen display. It showed him what Rei was seeing on the monitor, complete with access denied in big letters along the top. In the center of the screen were two fields, currently empty, asking for username and password.

Ichii hit F11, then entered his own username and password at another prompt. The latter was a series of numbers he had literally picked at random. Ichii had always had a good memory for numbers –he never had to write down phone numbers, nor use a speed-dial for them— so he was always able to pick wholly random passwords, always the most secure. His username was standard, of course: IKIRYUU. All the usernames were keyed to surname preceded by first initial — the latter a necessity, especially since his sister was also a Kiryuu. In fact, just in the Alveo alone there were fourteen people named Sato, ten named Tanaka, six named Kise (plus one named Kiseki), three named Yamaguchi, two named Kuroko, and, oddly, three named Komatsuzaki (all three unrelated to each other).

Entering that username and password rewarded him with a series of commands and codes in another window on the left-hand side, right under the faux adorable face of a twelve-year-old child that Ichii had never met yet desperately wanted to throttle.

He then Alt-Tabbed over to the other window, used the trackpad located between the main keyboard and the number pad to place the cursor in the username field, and entered "RKIRYUU."

"Okay," he said to Rei, "enter your password."

This time, the clickety-clack that Ichii heard over his headset was matched by the appearance of several asterisks in the password field.

"Done," Rei said after fourteen asterisks appeared.

"That's some password."

"It's my birthday," Rei deadpanned.

"_Our _birthday, you mean?" Ichii replied sarcastically. "When we're reincarnated in the year one billion."

He followed the streams of code that flew past the window on the left-hand side of his monitor, even as the right-hand side once again declared access to be denied and cleared the username and password fields.

"Fuck," Rei said again. "What happened now?"

"Seems you're gonna need a new birthday," Ichii said with a smirk.

"What the hell is wrong with this bitch?"

"Oh, come on, sis. Don't you always complain that you're bored shitless?"

"Yeah, when I'm not _late_ for a meeting."

Ichii cocked his eyebrow. "Why don't you attend the meeting by the hologram from your computer at home?"

"My computer broke. I can't fix it."

"_You _can't fix it." He chuckled, leaning back in his vinyl chair – a product of Mebel, a subsidiary of the Cross Corporation, designed to be ergonomically correct and damned comfortable. "Then, you don't mind if I'm the one who make the password? You can change it back after a week, as… you know… we should change our password every week"

A clicked tongue was heard. "Be my guest."

Moving back to the left-hand window, he typed in another series of commands. The random character generator created a new password for the RKIRYUU account. Ichii Alt-Tabbed over, typed the username and then HUNTER0.

Then he hesitated.

Should he do it? Each time he had reset the password and test it, he'd been able to see the information that the person in question have. Most of the time, that information was harmless, personal, uninteresting, or all three. Occasionally, it would be something he was not allowed to see, although still uninteresting and or harmless.

But, this account was not own by a common employee. This account was his sister's, and she _is_ the head of the security for the Alveo, and one of the top brass in Security Division generally. So, the account was where the _important_ things were.

He wanted to ask her sister again and explain to her that he could see inside the account, however his curiosity peaked, making him paused.

Taking a deep breath and blinking twice, he hit ENTER.

A wealth of information appeared on the right-hand side of his screen for about a few seconds. Ichii had an eidetic memory, and he tried to take in as much as possible.

He'd frozen when he saw it.

It had contained two graphics and a huge block of text. He had not caught all the text, but several words jumped out at him: "V-virus", "anti-virus", and "fatalities". All three words showed up several times, in fact.

The graphics, however, were of more immediate concern. One showed a white rabbit being injected with some kind of red substance.

As for the other one…

It was like something out of a nightmare. Or one of those old monster comic books he had collected when he was a kid.

Nominally, it had a human shape: two arms, two legs, though its spine was bent in such a way that it could move on all fours—which it appeared to be doing in the graphic. It had skin like a rhinoceros's, plated and faceted, only it was more brown and red than the gray of a rhino. Ichii was not sure, but it looked like there were bones sticking out amidst the corded skin. The thing's fingers and toes ended in huge claws that looked like they could rend steel and there were also bat-like wings on its back.

What Ichii remembered most clearly from his brief glimpse, however, was the head.

It had a huge, squared-off mouth, filled with jagged teeth and a tongue that looked like a snake had taken up residence in the thing's mouth.

Scariest of all were the creature's eyes.

It did not have any.

After that, the screen went blank, replaced with two familiar words: access granted.

Ichii's mind drew a blank. He was trembling a bit, his mouth opened slightly, and eyes not moving from the screen.

What kind of actually fuck have his sister gotten herself into?

"Thanks a lot, Ichii." Rei's voice said after a moment, startling him back from his horror. "You're a life saver."

Ichii chuckled, trying to contain his fear and making his voice sounded normal. "You're welcome, my dear sis," he said playfully.

He heard the heels of Rei's shoes cackling against the floor. "Hey, Ichii, you're up to have lunch outside tomorrow?" she asked. "I have this good café that I want you to look."

Ichii frowned. Cross knew better than to think that they could keep people holed in the ground indefinitely. Even the false images in the windows could only go so far. Every employee was allowed to go topside once every two weeks, be outdoors, see the sun, breathed air that wasn't recycled.

He had heard through the grapevine that there had been a fight over that interval among the powers-that-be of Cross. Some hardliners didn't want to let anyone out at all, citing the delicate nature of the work they did as reason not to risk any kind of security breach. Others pointed out that the people they were doing that delicate work for would probably not be terrifically appreciative if the people doing that work went stark raving mad, which they would if they were forbidden from leaving the Alveo for five years running —or even one month running.

Two weeks had apparently been a compromise. Ichii's two weeks were indeed coming up tomorrow, but he was surprised to hear that _Rei_ aware of that.

She was a workaholic after all.

"Sure," he finally said.

"Great. We'll meet at the train station at eleven."

The "train station" was the terminus of the train that went from the secret entrance under a mansion to the Alveo's topmost floor. That was the access point to the Alveo for most people, as well as the tube that went straight up to the basement of Cross's corporate headquarters in Kaname City. They had to take the train to the mansion, get cleared by the "happy couple" who reside in the mansion, and then depart. On the off-chance that they were seen, they would simply be friends visiting the reclusive couple in the mansion, but that rarely happened. The mansion's reputation —and very real threat of the law being called on trespassers— generally kept prying eyes away.

Sometimes reputation was the best security.

"Okay," Ichii replied. "See you tomorrow then."

He removed the headset and hit the end button on her phone. Then he stared blankly at the monitor for several seconds.

He officially screwed. He just saw something that he shouldn't have.

"_**Is something wrong?"**_

"Nothing, Yuuki," he lied to the AI. "I think we've nailed this down."

0******************0

The only thing Yuuki's security cameras picked up was the human figure in the Hazmat suit. Somehow, someone had found a way to get into the suit without the ubiquitous cameras recording the action. However, Yuuki, despite her artificial intelligence, was still at heart a literal-minded machine. The person in the Hazmat suit entered the proper security codes to get through the titanium-reinforced door to the temperature-regulated room that housed the V-virus. Therefore, the computer did not question the identity of the individual, even though the suit's reflective faceplate sufficiently hid the person's identity from the cameras.

The figure wandered inside the room, doing something and took a few she knew the most valuable outcome of the project. Yuuki, still literal-minded, had not blinked when the figure removed all the samples of the deadliest virus ever created by the human race, because the figure had entered all the right security codes.

But when that same virus was detected in the air of the Alveo, there was only one thing she could do. Evacuating the Alveo would not be practical. It was physically impossible to remove all five hundred and twenty-three human beings from the underground complex without risking the virus spreading.

Which meant that those human beings were as good as dead, as was any other living creature within the Alveo that breathed the air provided by the beyond-top-of-the-line air-conditioning system.

Yuuki's first directive was self-preservation, which meant preservation of the Alveo.

She began the process of sealing off the Alveo. That would take about fifteen minutes.

Then she'd do the rest.

0******************0

"_**All of Cross staff must wear their identity tags at all times."**_

Rei stared blankly at the announcement as she took a sip her coffee. She still pissed at the AI, it was fortunate she came in time at the meeting, thanks to Ichii. She _loved_ to throw her high-heels at Yuuki, but she did not want getting into any trouble.

Someone collided with her back, sending her stumbling forward, and jostling her right arm. A sharp stab of heat seeped into her chest right over her heart where the still-hot coffee spilled on her shirt, and a great deal of liquid splattered onto the jacket she had over her right arm as well.

A vein popped on her forehead.

She looked up to see the retreating form of the person who had bumping her, moving purposely down the hall, not having even broken stride after the collision.

"Thank you so much, bastard." Rei scowled in annoyance.

She sighed as she inspecting the damage. Her watch was dripping coffee, and the stain had gone through both her shirt and undershirt.

She groaned. This shirt was a new one and it had ruined already.

Today was sooo not her day.

A familiar loud shrill startled her back from her misery. She blinked, looking up the ceiling in distaste.

Come on, girl. A fire drill? Now? Really?

That bitch was so _dead_.

She walked down the corridor. The mild chaos of fire drill indeed made her had difficulty to through by, but she managed. Along with everyone else, she headed toward the fire exit. The space where she was now had two ways out, one toward the elevator bay, with fire stairs between the elevators, and the fake windows; the other in the back leading to another set of stairs. The one by the elevator bay was wider and better lit, so everyone headed there.

Before she got to the bay, however, she saw a crowd congregating in the hall.

She frowned. Why weren't they moving forward?

"What's the problem?" she asked as she threw the coffee cup into a bin.

A pretty blond haired woman stared at her in surprise. "Rei? Why are you here?"

"There's a meeting." Rei replied shortly.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "A meeting? But, you're _the_ head of Security Division, why are you here to attend a meeting when you could use hologram from your computer in your _home_?"

Déjà vu? Rei sighed. "My computer was broke," she said resignedly. "I can't fix it and Ichii is here, so I must use the conference room."

"_You_ can't fix it?" the woman whistled in awe. "That must be one hell of problem."

"Hell yeah."

"Hm…" The woman was sneaking a glance at the soiled jacket, and laughed dryly. "So, you had a bad day too?"

"You don't know." Rei said sarcastically, smothering her shirt. "Anyway, what's going on here? Why didn't you move forward?"

The woman shrugged. "The doors won't open."

Rei blinked in confusion. The doors won't open? She peered through the crowd to see that the MetaGlas doors had shut, blocking access to the elevator bay. The heck? That was not supposed to happen until after the room was evacuated, unless there was an actual fire that necessitated sealing the room to prevent a spread.

"What about the ones at the back?" she asked.

One of the Technical Support guys said, "Locked as well."

What the actual fuck? This was going in a direction Rei did not like in the least. She was as familiar with the fire-suppression system as anyone, and she ran through it in her head: the room evacuated, sealed, and then flooded with halon gas until the fire went out. The halon would suck the oxygen out of the room, thus starving the fire.

The problem, of course, was that the gas would also starve any animal life of oxygen, which was why the system was designed not to seal the room until after the evacuation was complete. The sole exception to this was if the fire was so out of control that the lives of anyone inside would be just as forfeit if they weren't sealed in the room.

But there was no fire here.

"Please, excuse me," she murmured as she walking through the crowd to see the omnipresent security camera – Yuuki's eyes and ears. She's wading over to stand in front of the thing, and grabbed the emergency phone. "Hello, Yuuki?" she said into the phone.

A moment of silence passed.

She frowned at this. Yuuki usually answered when she called her.

"Yuuki? Hello?" she said again, more forcefully this time. "Answer me, you damn brat."

She could feel everyone gawked to her at how she regarded the AI, but she was ignoring them. There was something that more important than gave a shit to people's stares.

But, though she mocked her, the AI still did not reply her, and Rei knew the fact that the system were working just fine after Ichii's screening.

She furrowed her eyebrows.

"What's that?" a worker who stood near her said, making her turned her head toward him.

"What was what?" Rei asked, putting the phone back.

"That. I hear something." The worker now was holding up a hand beside his ears.

Rei's ears flicked, looking up and squinting as if trying to hear something. She twitched as it's a bit difficult for her to hear anything in the middle of the crowd. But then, she caught it. A low buzz, increasing in intensity.

Another alarm?

She closed her eyes, focusing her hearing to hear it clearly.

As it got louder, her eyes snapped open when she realized what it was.

Screams.

People screaming.

There was something else too. A low rumbling that was just under the screaming sounds.

Now the cold sweat was running down her neck as she started to realize what it was she was hearing. Her mouth opened slightly in horror, turning her head slowly toward where the elevators were.

It can't be.

The screams faded once again into a low buzz. The rumbling went away completely.

"Oh… my… God…" the worker who heard it first muttered with voice that sounded hollow and lifeless, as if he just realized what he heard.

A crunching, explosive noise mixed with wrenched metal and the springing sound of metal cables whipping around.

It's the sound of the elevator plunged downward and had hit bottom.

Official, something was horribly wrong.

Ichii! Rei unconsciously took a step backward and turned around. There was something definitely wrong in here! She had to find her brother now and take him to the safety!

But before she could go any further, she heard a nasty hissing sound. Within seconds, the air around her seemed to shimmer.

It was Halon.

Instantly, she covered her nose and mouth with her jacket. "It's Halon!" she yelled, voicing her thought. "Move away no-"

Her breath caught. Move away where? The doors had been shut out and Yuuki could not be reach, the elevators also destroyed. They were trapped here with nowhere to run. She glanced at the door, saw the workers banged at the MetaGlas door in a futile effort to get out. The gas started to burn her throat. With each passing second, it became more impossible to breathe.

"Stop it, girl!" she screamed at Yuuki's security camera. The hypothesis that the brat had gone nuts was now foremost in what was left of her thought. "Stop it now!" she yelled again, more hoarsely.

Right now, her mind was only on trying and failing to take another breath. She collapsed to the floor, her legs suddenly unable to support her own weight. The gas permeated the room making her impossible to see.

Unable to hold her eyes open, unable to stand, unable to breathe, she collapsed.

She thought about Ichii.

After that, nothing.

**To Be Continue…**

**A/N :**

**So... should I continue this or what? Please write your opinion in review.**

**And Rei Kiryuu! You must be know who she is by now!**

**Or... maybe not yet.**


	2. Chapter 1

When she woke up, the first thing inside her mind was it's so quiet. The second was that her jaw hurt.

The ground was cold against her sore jaw. She tried to prop herself up, only to feel a stabbing pain in her head.

She forced herself to focus, to take in her surroundings.

Everything around her was unnaturally quiet. It's dark and with emptiness that made her felt uneasy. Gently rubbing her temple with her right hand, she looked down. Aside from a crumpled, soiled jacket below her and few broken tables there was nothing here.

Obviously something had happened, by how disarray around her.

But, what?

Her need to figure out what was going on led her to another stunning revelation.

She had no idea who she was.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to recall anything. She knew that she was a woman that lying in somewhere cold and dark. Well, it was more like a big hallway with marble floors and surrounded by MetaGlas rooms.

She blinked.

Wait a minute. That did not make sense. Why would she can identify marble and know what MetaGlas was, yet she had not the first clue who or where she was?

Gingerly, she got up. Her right shoulder and the right side of her face both still ached, but the ache was already receding. Just residual pain from falling down.

Well, assuming she had fallen down.

The evidence, at least, supported that. The way she was sprawled on the floor, the way the jacket crumpled underneath her body.

This only served to confuse her more. For whatever reason, she was having no trouble analyzing her situation, even drawing conclusions.

Yet she could not recall her name, her favorite color, what she liked to eat, how old she was, what her pet's name was.

Oh, wait. Her pet cat's name was Rose.

…

The heck…

Why the hell did she remember that?

The dripping sound from nowhere echoed throughout the massive place, and only then did she appreciate just how _big_ the place was.

Was she in a skyscraper or what?

There was a mirror on one of the tables. She walked up to it, taking the mirror and wiped the condensation away from the glass with her hand.

A very attractive woman with shoulder-length straight silver hair, light purple eyes, and pale unblemished skin stared back at her.

Right, _almost_ unblemished. There was a dark bruise on her jaw, probably from falling, and there was a scar along the side of her neck. That did not come from the fall, though. As best she could tell, the scar was several years old.

She wondered what caused it.

She put the mirror down back, and began to walk along the hallway.

The rooms around the hallway were large. They seemed to be… well, she did not know what they seemed to be. She could not take a peek the inside as they were so dark. The soft humming vibrated lightly from the floor, as if there's a machine below. The unearthly silence began to frighten her.

A heavy thud startled her. Her body stiffened as she turned slowly toward where the sound coming from.

"Hello?"

Nobody replied.

She furrowed her eyebrows, cautiously walking forward.

"Hello? Anybody there?" she said again, now really wishing she had a gun with her – though she had no idea why she knew 'gun' and whether or not she knew how to use it.

The silence pressed on her, oppressive, as loud as scream.

She sighed softly. Shaking her head, she turned to go back to where she was. She rubbed her elbow, feeling cold and lost.

She jumped in surprise when a hissing sound echoed the place, and her eyes widened as the lights suddenly went on. Not just that, but there was noise – sounded like street noise – and the windows showed some kind of cityscape. _Day_ cityscape.

What the fucking hell?

She started to run. By now the breeze, no, the _wind_ was blowing. She had no idea where it came from, but she had a feeling that she did not like very much. The wind had gotten worse. She made a grab for the door…

…only to be grabbed around the stomach and pulled backward.

She struggled initially as the man – yeah, she was sure it was a man – dragged her, but she did not put up much of a fight, mainly because of the bright lights that now shone painfully for her eyes.

Something was happening.

"Get off of me!" she snarled at the man. "Get the fuck away from me!"

He let go, but not through any impetus from her. Something round and flat black disc came crashing near them, and loose with a blast of cordite that sent her and her would-be abductor sprawling to the floor. There were noises of footsteps running toward them in flurry hurry. Her head swam, the cordite in the air making her vaguely nauseous and leaving a bitter taste in her mouth – and why the heck she knew what cordite was?

She shook her head, trying to clear it, hoping to stave off a headache that was starting to build. Looking up, she saw five people dressed in all black and wearing face-covering masks. They were loaded for bear. Each of them carried at least two guns that she could see, and a variety of other pieces of equipment she could not quite make out – it was all black on black, and the weird explosive disc still had her blinking spots from in front of her eyes.

The man who'd grabbed her was a tall man with very short brown-reddish hair, wearing a dress jacket over a white shirt. His pants were also dark, but did not match the jacket.

Actually, the man was kinda familiar.

She thought he was a worker here, but as soon as the five people burst in to the hallway, he pulled out a gun from a shoulder holster.

She blinked.

Err… no? Not a worker then.

In an instant, she recognized the weapon he used was a standard Beretta.

If only she could recall why it was called "Beretta".

As soon as the strange worker had his Beretta out, one of the black-clad intruders grabbed his right wrist and, in one fluid motion, pulled his arm behind his back, knocked him facedown onto the floor, and forced him to drop the pistol.

"What're you doing?!"

One of the other intruders pulled his jacket and shoulder holster off. "You have a gun, what do you think we're _doing_?" the intruder said.

"Like you have the right to say that! That some guns you have!"

The second intruder one rooted through her would-be abductor's jacket to pull out his wallet.

"You're breaking my arm," the abductor said as the intruder handcuffed his arms behind his back.

She watched all this with a combination of confusion and dispassion. No one seemed to be paying any attention to her. Another one of the black-clad people ran over to the mirror on the far end of the hallway –she just realized there's a _large_ mirror there. He opened a panel with two knob switches, which revealed a socket of some kind.

This particular member of the invasion team had some kind of minicomputer on his left forearm. It flapped open to reveal a small monitor on the upper portion and a keyboard on the part still parallel to his arm. He took a wire that was attached to the minicomputer on one end and plugged it into the socket.

Two more figures walked into the room through the now-shattered windows. One of them headed straight for her. She sat up. Looking up at the figure, she could not make out any features behind what she now remembered was a gas mask.

"Report." The man—it was definitely a man—had a deep, rich voice, only slightly muffled by the gas mask.

She had no idea how to respond to his request.

No, not a request. This was an order. Whoever she was, she must have been this man's subordinate.

However… what should she report to him?

He grabbed her by the shoulder and yanked her to her feet. She thought about resisting, but he grabbed her right on the sore part of her shoulder, and she winced in pain.

"Report _now_."

"I…" What could she possibly tell him? That she woke up with no memory of who she was, or what she was doing here? The entire situation was insane.

Then again, maybe this was normal for her. If this man, whoever he was, was a part of her daily life, maybe commandoes crashing through was a normal day for her.

But memory loss was not, so she said nothing.

"I want your report, soldier," the man said. His voice never raised, and that made it scarier. Even with the mask muffling his words, the quiet, professional calm he exuded was frightening as hell.

She blinked her eyes, and instead she gave the only 'report' that she could under the circumstances. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Before the man could reply, the man by the mirror with the computer on his arm spoke up. "Sir, the facility's primary defense have been activated. She's still alive, so probably suffering the side effects."

Still alive? Side effects? What the hell did _that_ mean?

It seemed to satisfy the leader, though, as he turned his attention to the pair that had subdued the abductor.

"What about him?" he asked.

"He claimed that he did not remember anything." One of the pair answered.

The one who had removed the jacket had a forearm minicomputer of his own. Right now he was holding the abductor's badge while entering something into the keypad. "Sugaru Ryouta. Department of Administrative Research."

She was relieved to find that _someone_ here had a name.

"Should I secure him here?" asked the one who'd handcuffed Sugaru, pointed a weapon at the man's head.

The leader removed the gas mask to reveal the face of a handsome, black haired man.

No, _handsome_ was not the right word. That implied softness, and there was precisely nothing about this man that suggested even a hint of softness.

"No, we take him with us." The leader said.

The one holding the gun on Sugaru yanked him to his feet _roughly_.

"Hey, it's hurt!" Sugaru yelled.

The one with gun pulled off his own mask. "Blow me," a feminine voice was heard. It was a woman with brown hair pulled back in a ponytail.

The leader looked around at the others. "Seeing these two alive, indicated that maybe there's still another survivors." He said, and cocking his gun.

"Prep for the raid within the Alveo."

**.**

**.**

"**There are edges around the black and every now and then a flash of color streaks out of the gray. But I can never really grasp any of the slivers of memories that emerge."**

― Katie McGarry, _Pushing the Limits_

**.**

**BIOHAZARD**

**Chapter 01**

**.**

**.**

Knowing her name was Kiryuu Rei should have made her feel better.

But it did not.

According to the head of the rescue team – who just went by 'One' for some odd reason – Rei was head of security for the Alveo –the facility where she was now– which was a neat trick, considering she'd never heard of it, or the Cross Corporation. On the other hand, the corridor in this facility had an oddly familiar feeling as she walked through them now the lights were on. Maybe it was the truth.

And oh, apparently she lost her memory because of the gas called Halon.

The heck… how come she still alive? Halon was a chemical compound often used in fire suppression system, however it was dangerous for it would also starve any life of oxygen and could killed them.

Frustratingly, she had no way of verifying anything. Her memory was still Swiss cheese, like remember something but she did not remember any particular of that something.

She just hoped this damn side effect wore off quickly. She was tired by she knew something else – like why the fuck she knew what Halon was – but did not remember anything important about herself – like her name.

"Stand clear!"

The yell startled her back from her thought. She blinked, looking at the one who yelled it. There was a large black glass door stood in front of them. The red haired, computer geek of the team –Niwa, if she's not mistaken– opened the compartment beside the door and connecting it to his computer.

One looked at her and Sugaru who stood beside her. "Just stand there and stay out of the way."

Rei frowned at his tone. This man kept ordering her but did not give any explanation. She and Sugaru glanced at each other for a moment, before hesitantly nodded.

There was a hiss echoed from the door. "Okay, it's open!" Niwa said.

The brown haired woman –who everyone called Aida– walked forward and pressing her hand over the door. She pushed it, blinked when it would not budge. She then tried in reverse way, her hand gripped the handle knob and pulled it.

The door was keep unmoved.

"Are you sure it's open?" she asked at the blonde who still crouching in front of the compartment.

"Yes, I'm sure!" Niwa said, showing the big letter of OPEN on his monitor.

Aida tilted her head to examine the door. It had a handle knob, but the handle seemed be stuck. She tried to move it several times, but nothing happened. She frowned, stopping for a moment to catch her breath before trying again. She cursed under her breath when it still could not open.

"How's the door?" One asked.

Tearing her gaze away from the door, Aida said, "Sealed shut."

The grey haired man, Haizaki, volunteered himself. "Let me."

Aida indicated the door with an exaggerated flourish, as if she was saying, "Let the macho asshole flex his muscle."

Haizaki gave her a wink, and began to open the door. Aida smiled in great satisfaction of watching him struggle just as hard as she did with it.

But then, he yanked it open.

He gasped as he stumbled backwards. His head was down when he did it, so he did not see the limp body behind the door until it fell on him.

"Fuck!" Haizaki cried as he pushed the form off him and whipped out his gun.

Next to Aida, One pointed his assault rifle at the man.

The air filled with tension.

Aida smiled at Haizaki. "Jumpy?" she teased, breaking the silence.

Haizaki gave her a fuck-you look.

She just kept smiling.

Rei watched at them with amusement in her eyes. This was the first time she saw the rescue team behaved so childish. She moved her eyes toward the limp figure on the floor, and instantly her eyes bulged in shock.

The man's face… looked like her…

Bother? No, his face was too much identical to hers, with the same silver hair –though it was short. Then… a clone? Possibly, considering this was a facility with super modern technology.

Apparently everyone was also wondered about this like her, as they looking back and forth toward her and the unconscious man.

A beautiful, blond haired woman of the rescue team, Hizuri, walked over and knelt down next to the man. She snapped a vial under his nose, which revived him pretty quick.

The man groaned. "Wha…"

"Lie still," Hizuri said.

The man started squirming, like he was having a bad dream or something.

"Lie still." Hizuri emphasized, holding the man down with one hand while taking out a penlight with the other. She pried his eyes open and shined the light in each eye. The pupils dilated, as expected. The she moved the light around. "Watch this light. Follow it."

The man stopped squirming and did so.

The blonde then held up three fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

The man coughed a bit, before answered with hoarse voice, "Two?"

"Good. Now tell me your name."

"I…" the man paused, blinking his eyes. He furrowed his eyebrows, looking so confused. "I… don't know…?"

Hizuri looked up at One. "He's fine." She spoke in a no-nonsense tone. "Memory loss, just like these two." She pointed at Rei and Sugaru with her thumb.

One nodded, as if expected that answer.

Rei stared at the unknown man, her mind whirling to remember who he was. The clickity-clack sound echoed, and she turned her head toward the red haired man who now stood beside the unknown man.

"But, he's a lucky bastard." Niwa said, his eyes still fixed on his minicomputer. "We can trace his identity by using her, considering they're identical." he continued, pointing at Rei.

Rei blinked in confusion.

Haizaki stood up while patting the invisible dusts from his pants. "So, you found it?"

Niwa grinned at him. "Yep," he said. "Meet Kiryuu Ichii from Computer Science Division."

Kiryuu? Rei stared blankly at the man as he now sat up and holding his head as if it hurt. The same surname as hers. So, this man was her brother? She tilted her head, kept looking at the man, who was stared at her right back with his mouth open, gawked to see her.

Why this man's face was so identical with hers if he was her brother?

Haizaki raised an eyebrow. "Computer Science Division? As in the ones who attended all the computers and programs in the Alveo?"

"Yep," Niwa answered.

"Including the AI too?"

"Especially that."

"So, this is his fault Yuuki went berserk, then?"

The three amnesiac stared at Haizaki with a look that looked like they were accusing him of something.

Niwa gave the grey haired a glare. "No, it's not his fault. There's nothing wrong with Yuuki when it happened. So, shut up."

Haizaki just shrugged his shoulders.

Rei frowned. "Who's Yuuki?"

"State-of-the-art artificial intelligence," Niwa said. "She's the computer that controls the Alveo."

"What this Yuuki went berserk to do with what happened to us?" she asked again, confused. "Why she went berserk?"

By now Aida, who listening them, wondered when Rei was gonna get her memory back. Rei was the head of Security Division, so she's the one who knew every corner inside the Alveo, including the AI Yuuki. Aida was tired of listening to people who should know better having to have their hands held.

Just as Aida was ready to give Niwa a good slap to stop him from answered the silverette, they entered a hallway that was totally sealed off. There were three or four entryways, all of which were covered by Cross-brand MetaGlas. Which was a good thing, seeing as how the lab spaces they were covering were flooded. Water spouted out through some pinholes in one of the labs, but still, it looked like someone sealed the rooms and then activated the sprinkler.

God.

"What happened here?" Ichii, who had been silent, asked.

Rei looked around with wide eyes. It's nothing like the place where they found her, this place was freaking _aquariums_.

Sugaru moved closer to one of the room, ignoring the suspicious look from Aida.

"Five hours ago, Yuuki went homicidal. Sealed the Alveo and killed everyone down here." One said, before glancing at the three amnesiacs. "Well, not everyone, and it seemed you are the only ones who survived."

"Oh my God…" Sugaru murmured in horror.

"You can't be sure of that," Ichii said. "There must be hundreds of people working here."

"Five hundred and nineteen," One replied coldly. "When we realized what was happening, my team was dispatched to shut her down."

"Why did she do it?" Rei asked.

"That we don't know. But outside interference is a possibility." One glanced at Ichii. "Or maybe from the inside."

Ichii, noticing the skeptical look from One, was about to say something, but then he suddenly jumped.

"Jesus!"

His sudden movement startled Rei. She stepped back, and saw what Ichii saw.

A body.

It was a woman, black hair from the looks of it, floating in the water on the other side of the glass. She wore all white, and her skin had gone pale enough to match the outfit.

Creepy.

Aida took a quick look at the body, before shaking her head. "Poor bastards."

Rei could not argue with the sentiment.

Sugaru looked at Rei with concern. "Hey, you okay?"

Rei grunted in reply.

"Is something wrong?" Aida, who heard them whispered, asked.

"Please give my jacket to her. I know you still bring it." Sugaru said. "She's cold."

Aida raised an eyebrow, but still held up the jacket to Rei.

"No, it's okay." Even as she spoke, though, she realized that she was cold. Her arms had unconsciously folded so she could warm herself, and her shirt did not warm her at all.

"C'mon, it's cold in here." He took the jacket from Aida –with difficulty of course as his hands were handcuffed behind his back– and pushed it to the silverette.

Rei tilted her head. "Why are you so nice to me? We're strangers after all."

Sugaru shrugged. "I don't know. It's just… you look familiar."

She hummed and gave him a small smile. "Weird. You look familiar too."

"Maybe we're friends before."

Rei took the jacket from him. "Maybe."

As her fingers brushed his, her eyes widened when suddenly there was a flash breezed her eyes.

.

_She walked down the hallway with a glass of coffee in her hand, still feeling pissed at someone because she almost late for a meeting._

_Someone collided with her back, sending her stumbling forward, and jostling her right arm._

_The coffee fell, spilled on her shirt, seeped into her left chest, splattered onto the jacket she had over her right arm._

_She glared up, saw brown-reddish hair of the retreating form who moving purposely down the hall…_

_._

The flashes were gone. She blinked her eyes rapidly, before looking up at Sugaru's face.

What the…

No way. The man was familiar to her because he had spilled her coffee and did not take a time to apologize? Her memory was getting more and more foolish. She did not remember her brother yet she felt familiar with a stranger!

Or maybe they were indeed friends, and the flash of memory before was how they first met.

"Err… are you… do you remember anything? Before… this?" she asked, decided to venture a question.

Sugaru shook his head. "No. Nothing before I woke up in a dark room. You?"

Before she could answer, Niwa's voice interrupted her.

"Got it!" Niwa shouted, making Rei turned her head toward him. "I found an alternate route, but it's gonna cost us time," he said, showing his wrist-top computer to One. "We double back, cut through Dining Hall B, then we're back on track."

Even as he spoke, Hizuri and Haizaki – whom Rei just noticed had disappeared since before they found the body – returned.

"Sir, not good," Hizuri said. "The whole level's flooded."

"Alright, we're behind schedule," One said. "So let's move it!"

Haizaki walked up to Sugaru and Rei and gave them a 'move-it' head nod. Without waiting of any kind of acknowledgment, he went ahead.

Rei glanced at Sugaru. They each solemnly mimicked Haizaki's head nod.

Then they both chuckled.

Maybe they were really friends before.

But, why something inside her mind screamed at her to not trust Sugaru?

0********************0

The space they entered was huge. It was also dark and dank and filled with boxes that were about eight feet tall with large tubes leading in and out of them. No sign of any of the accoutrements one would expected in a dining hall.

Or much of anywhere else, if it came right down to it.

"Niwa?" One asked, giving the red head a look.

"It's Dining Hall B." Niwa shrugged helplessly. "Or according to the map, it is."

One walked over to take a look at Niwa's display. "Maybe you're reading it wrong."

"Or maybe the corporation's keeping a few secrets down here." Ichii said, earning a curious glance from Niwa and One. "What? It's obvious. There are only three reasons why the map was wrong: you're reading it wrong, the map creator made a typo, or there's something that you're not supposed to see. And there's no way this place would use a defective map, right?"

Niwa stared at him in worry.

One was giving the silverette a hard look. "Haizaki, you secure the exit." he said, remained unaffected. He then glanced at Aida, and took a quick look at Sugaru. "And Aida, how long do you want to keep him detained? His identity has been confirmed."

"As long as possible," Aida shrugged, ignoring the glare from Sugaru. "He's suspicious."

But there's another suspicious person in here and you didn't handcuffed him. One wanted to say that, but he sighed instead.

Hizuri took another air sample. "Sir, halon levels are _nonexistent_ in this room. Could be the system malfunctioned."

Rei tilted her head, wondering what that meant exactly. Then again, there was no reason for anything to start making sense now. Everything since she woke up never made sense.

One studied Hizuri's readout and then looked up.

"Alright, listen up. There may be other survivors here, so give me a search line." One said, surveying one by one his subordinates. "But keep it _tight_."

The rescue team moved out in different directions. Sugaru were shoved by Aida toward of the smaller crates for him to sit on, and leaving Rei and Ichii alone. The twins stared at each other for a moment, feeling creepy at how similar their faces were.

"So… you're my sister?" Ichii asked, breaking the silence.

Rei scratched her neck with her forefinger. "Maybe. I don't remember anything so I cannot vouch it's true or not," she said. "But I think you're my clone. Our faces are too identical for us to be siblings."

The silence emitted between them.

Ichii covered his mouth with his hand as he was trying to stifle his laugh.

Rei stared dead on at him. "What's so funny?"

"You. You think we're so identical because I'm your clone?" he chuckled, his body trembling with laugh. "Don't you know what _twins_ is?"

Rei twitched. "I'm amnesiac," she deadpanned.

"Well, _I'm_ too." Ichii shrugged, giving her a smirk. "But I know what twins is."

She did not like that smirk. Did not like it at all. "Oh. Then, do explain, the Genius One," She snipped. "With five words." She emphasized Ichii had a chance to open his mouth.

Ichii was giving her a look.

Now, it's Rei who smirking instead.

"Twins is…" Ichii made a dramatic pause. "Siblings with identical face."

Rei stared blankly at him as Ichii giving her a smug look.

"Smartass," Rei grumbled.

Ichii did a mocked bow. "Why, thank you, ma'am."

Rei gave him a middle finger.

They wandered around the room as they chatting. Rei was taking note of her surroundings, if she was supposed to be the head of security for this place, then she probably knew that this room was really for. Maybe walking around would give her some kind of clue to who she really was.

As she navigated among the crates, she noticed that they all had two readouts. On top was some kind of pattern that looked like a stereo sound system oscillation. It was steady, but she had no clue what it was actually measuring, since there was no bass beat to be heard.

On the bottom were one of two words lit up: stable and unstable. To her relief, stable was the one lit on all the crates she could see.

She approached one of them. Each of the crates had a small window in it.

"What's wrong, Rei?" Ichii asked, noticing that his sort-of-sister walked closer to one of the crates.

Rei pressed her finger to her mouth, signing him to keep silent, and urging him to follow her. Ichii watched her with curious eyes, but he shrugged and walking behind her. Together, they peered inside the crate via the small window.

And what they saw made their eyes widened.

It was living, something inside the crate, that was sure, though it did not look anything they recognized. Then again this thing could not have been normal. It did not have any eyes, for one thing, its skin was all scaly, and it had tubes running all in and out of its body.

"Gross…" Ichii scrunched his nose in disgust.

"Understatement of the day." Rei nodded.

"But it's kinda familiar, you know." Ichii said, cocking his head in confusion. "Like I've seen it before."

Rei blinked, turning her head toward Ichii with a surprise look. "You too?" she asked, earning a flabbergasted gaze from her brother. "Well, I have this nagging feeling that I'd seen it."

They hummed in unison, pondering where they had seen that thing before.

Then suddenly it hit them.

.

_As the new password was entered into her account remotely by Ichii, a wealth of information appeared on the screen for about a few seconds. It contained two graphic and a huge block of text. Ichii had not caught all the text, but several words jumped out at him: "V-virus", "anti-virus", and "fatalities". All three words showed up several times._

_The graphic came onscreen._

_Ichii did not know what it was and felt frightened. _

_Rei instantly knew what it was for a split second before Yuuki shut her out._

_It was the Licker._

.

Something snapped them back from their flashback. They turned their head to the right, and jumped in surprise when they saw One appearing next to Rei.

Fuck. She had not heard him approach.

"Damn it, sir, you scared shit out of me," Ichii said, clutching where his heart was.

One was peering into the window. "I said, keep it tight." He did not even look at them.

Rei cleared her throat. "Sorry. It's just… I'm not sure I want to remember what went down here, so…"

One glanced at her. "I don't blame you." He said in a softer voice than he'd used all day.

It was the closest One had come to being human since she met him. Or, she supposed, re-met him.

Whatever.

"So, he could become a human too," Ichii commented, staring at One's back.

Rei shot him a look.

Ichii blinked at her. "What?"

She did not answer him, instead she smacked the back of his head lightly.

"Hey, it's hurt!" Ichii whined, rubbing his head.

As she and Ichii went back to the center of the room, not having found anyone or anything save the crates, she overheard Haizaki and Aida talking, staring at one of the crates while they guarded Sugaru.

"What the hell do they keep in these things?" Haizaki asked.

Aida gave him a snide glance. "How do I know?"

Niwa and Hizuri rejoined them in the room's center.

"Anything?" One asked.

"No, sir." Niwa said, while the other just shook her head.

"Alright, we're proceeding to Yuuki's chamber. Aida, stay here with your prisoner. Let's move."

Rei was grateful. Soon they'd be at the computer core, then they could shut her down and get the hell out of this madhouse.

Soon, it'd all be over.

**To Be Continue...**


End file.
